Heads (or “headers”) for agricultural harvesters are generally arranged as a horizontal frame extending perpendicular to the direction of travel through the field to which several row units are attached. The row units are devices that are aligned with each row of crops that the agricultural harvester approaches and are configured to gather and cut a row of crop plants.
Row units for corn heads (a typical example) may include two forwardly extending arms on which two endless gathering chains are attached. These gathering chains guide each cornstalk into a gap between the arms. Once between the arms, two counter-rotating stalk rolls engage the cornstalk therebetween, pulling it downward and stripping the ears of corn from the cornstalk. These ears of corn are swept backwards by the gathering chains into a trough at the rear of the corn head where a horizontal auger conveys them to the center of the corn head and a feeder house then conveys them to the combine harvester that supports the corn head and carried it through the field.
One problem with corn heads is the likelihood that they will become blocked or jammed, typically with crop material. When this happens, harvesting must stop until the affected row unit is cleaned out. These blockages or jams only occur when the vehicle is operating: in the middle of an agricultural field, far away from the operator's workshop.
It is important for the operator to clear the blockages in the row units and begin harvesting as soon as possible. Since the operator typically lacks a wide array of tools to disassemble the corn head, it is important that the different parts of the corn head be easily manipulated to provide rapid cleaning.
In conventional corn heads, the row units in the middle of the corn head are covered by lightweight roto-molded plastic points and covers (see e.g. FIGS. 1-2) which can be easily raised and lowered by a single operator to provide access to the row unit. The end row units, however, are not as easily cleared of blockages and jams. The two end fenders on the ends of the corn head covering the end row units require wrenches, screwdrivers, or other tools to remove them from the end row units and main frame of the corn head.
The weight of the traditional end fenders can be difficult for the operator to handle alone. In one arrangement, the end fender is supported on a hinge located at the upper rear of the end fender approximately 2 or 3 feet in the air. To remove the this end fender, the operator grasps the pointed front end of the end fender, lifts it several feet into the air, and walks it backward until it pivots up and over the rear wall of the corn head. Even though an end fender may be made of relatively lightweight materials, the need to lift it so high in the air can require two people.
What is needed is a new way of attaching the end fenders to the rest of the corn head that will permit a single operator to more easily move the end fender out of the way and provide access to the row unit that the end fender covers and protects. It is an object of this invention to provide such a new structure.